The Haunting Lodge

Kendall and Vera are the main characters of this documentary that move into the lodge to begin their paranormal investigation. Vera is the first to experience some paranormal activity, but soon they both experience terrifying stuff (good thing it's all on camera :)), including being touched while they sleep (Just the thought of this creeps me out). This leads to them calling a psychic medium Jill Morris, to talk to the dead and to help them solve the case. She then proceeds to tell them that the haunting is the work of an intelligent entity (I'm still confused, but I'm not the smartest tool in the shed). The insidious creepy secrets of the hotel are revealed as the paranormal activity escalates. The couple find themselves in over their heads which leads to this wonderful documentary. If you like ghost hunter stories you'll enjoy this. Good job to the team behind it.

Does anyone actually believe that this nonsense is real? I put this on in the background for some noise while doing housework and that's about all it was good for. I imagine the "crew" of this "documentary" are a bunch of out of work film school dropouts trying to justify/recoup the cost of their equipment. "Ghosts don't have such heavy footsteps." Seriously? You can buy a variety of "paranormal equipment" online and start your own ghostbusting investigation team. These shows are ridiculous and I'm glad I only turn them on occasionally for background noise and to see just how silly they can be.

The Haunting Lodge was entertaining and informative, a truly enjoyable film. The program had first person interviews along with the details behind the investigation. The show provided several examples of what was being experienced and showed how the investigators worked to verify what was happening. I liked that some of the events were recorded for the viewer, not reenacted. While the primary crew did great work, they also brought in additional resources to get to the bottom of things. They certainly connected some dots for me. If you want to watch a show that provides some answers you need to check this one out.

Asked to visit a hunting lodge, a pair of paranormal researchers arrive at the location and proceed to their tactics of looking for the paranormal, soon sending themselves on a dangerous quest with a bring they never expected to encounter.

This wasn't too bad for what it is. The core concept of this one focusing on the backstory of the location as the various sightings and experiences work perfectly to set up the location for the investigation that takes place. Filled with the typical kind of interactions and experiences taking place with their cameras and equipment, it all leads to somewhat more chilling and energetic encounters made all the better with the panicked found-footage format that allows this to get pretty close and personal to the hauntings. However, that doesn't change the fact that this one is severely dull for the vast majority of its running time. While the build-up of these events isn't so bad, there's still a lot of the film amounting to nothing more than people reacting to strange beeps or noises from their devices rather than featuring anything that genuinely showcases proof of the supernatural that they're seeking. The need to feature all the useless interviews on the town's history does this no favors and it all comes together into a cheap, somewhat bland experience.

Rated Unrated/R: Language and Mild Violence.

Went into this expecting it to be a full on found-footage horror movie. Started off slow, but that's was okay because lost of found footage films start off slow. But got 2/3 of the way through, and there had yet to be anything scary at all. The last 1/3 was the most disappointing. So much opportunity to do something scary. Even if it was something completely out of left field. But no, it was honestly just so disappointing. I've seen bad movies before and still enjoyed them for the few good things they have in them. But this movie (which is just over an hour) had basically nothing good about it.